


D is for Dinner

by Ultra



Series: The Jellie Files [1]
Category: Chuck (TV)
Genre: Awkwardness, Beginnings, Crying, Dinner, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Friendship/Love, Kissing, Post-Season/Series 03
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-04-22
Updated: 2011-04-22
Packaged: 2018-07-23 15:03:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 765
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7468179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ultra/pseuds/Ultra
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nothing more simple than dinner between friends... right?</p>
            </blockquote>





	D is for Dinner

It wasn’t normal for the door to be open like that. It wasn’t really normal for anybody’s front door to be left half open to the world unless you were in the process of taking items in and out of your house, and Casey knew there was no fetching and carrying going on because he’d been watching for the past ten minutes.

Casey now had two choices, ignore the fact his neighbours might be in peril, or go over and see what was happening. Obviously he was always going to choose the latter and that was how he came to be outside Ellie and Devon’s apartment door, a gun in his hand, eyes scanning everywhere.

Casey got a surprise when he carefully pushed the door further open and found Ellie, sat all alone at the table, with a glass of wine in her hand and tear-tracks on her face. He was going to make a stealthy retreat, he really was, but somehow walking out on the damsel in distress seemed wrong. Shoving the gun into the back of his pants, he tapped on the already open door to get her attention and stepped inside.

“Hey, Ellie,” he greeted her awkwardly. “I was just passing by and... Are you okay?” he asked, knowing already it was a dumb question since she was wiping tears away just the second she realised she had company.

“I don’t know, John,” she sighed. “If okay is spending hours making a special dinner for a brother that leaves to go deadly missions, and a husband that can’t even call when he’s going to be late,” she went on, voice getting higher and more crazy as she continued, flinging the arm not holding the wine glass in some wild empathic gesture. “If okay is missing a father that was killed by people who were supposed to protect him. If okay is feeling like my life is falling apart, then yeah, I’m okay!” she raved, tears seeping through her chaotic manner as she fell apart before his eyes.

Casey wasn’t sure when he’d walked from the door to the table, or why he’d decided that taking hold of this woman he was barely connected to was a reasonable course of action. Honestly, he was a little worried she was going to hurt herself with her waving around, especially given the fact she was probably a little tipsy too.

“Ellie, come on,” he said more softly than he meant to, encouraging her to put the glass down and hush her tears. “You’re stronger than this, I know you are,” he said definitely, knowing that he was entirely impressed by the way she had coped with all the crap that had been thrown at her these past few months.

A humourless laugh escaped her lips then, a more painful sound to Casey’s ears than he’d ever expected.

“I just wanted a nice dinner with my family,” she cried hopelessly, “I just... I just wanted a little normality for a few hours,” she shrugged, perhaps only noticing now how close she was to this man as his fingers burned into her bare shoulders and their eyes locked, “Is it too much to ask, John?” she said in all but a whisper. “What did I do wrong to deserve all this?”

“You did nothing wrong, Ellie,” he told her firmly, “You’re...” he couldn’t verbalise what she was or wasn’t; inside Casey were all the feelings but none of the words, which was why in a moment of probable madness, he just pulled her to him and kissed her squarely on the lips.

A few seconds after it began it was over, and yet Ellie felt like she’d had all the air completely knocked out of her lungs. That was perhaps the last thing she had expected Casey to do, and she ought to have been mad at him for it, not least because she was a married woman. She could yell at him, slap his face, tell him to get the hell out... but she didn’t.

“Are you hungry, John?” she asked, clearing her throat that was suddenly very dry. “Um, I’d hate for the food to go to waste.” She smiled as he released her and she hurried to the kitchen.

Casey watched her go and took a second to wonder on what the hell had just happened here. It seemed whatever it was, they weren’t going to talk about it. They were going to eat dinner, and then go back to their regular lives, as irregular as they may be.

That would work... for now.


End file.
